Tucker Cipriano pleads guilty to first-degree murder

Tucker Cipriano enters the courtroom of Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Shalina Kumar before the start of jury selection, Monday, June 10, 2013. On Monday, Cipriano pleaded no contest to first-degree felony murderin the beating death of his father, Robert Cipriano, on April 16, 2012. (For the Daily Tribune/Vaughn Gurganian)

The Farmington Hills man charged with murder in the baseball bat beating death of his father has pleaded no contest to first-degree felony murder.

With a jury already selected for his trial, Tucker Cipriano entered the plea Monday. He will spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance for parole. A plea of no contest is not an admission of guilt but is treated as one for sentencing purposes.

He made the plea in front of Oakland County Circuit Judge Shalina Kumar on Monday afternoon. His co-defendant, Mitchell Young, still faces trial.

Efforts to seat a jury to hear Youngís trial continued throughout the morning, a slow process due to the intense media scrutiny in this case. Police and prosecutors say Tucker Cipriano, 20, and Young broke into the Farmington Hills home of Tuckerís family, intending to steal items and a car. Authorities say the pair, confronted by Ciprianoís father, beat the father, Robert Cipriano, 52, to death with baseball bats. Tuckerís mother and brother were also badly beaten, barely surviving.

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Mother, Rose, and the brother, Salvatore, required intensive and lengthy treatment. A young child in the home called police, leading to the immediate arrest of Young. Tucker Cipriano was arrested later at a friendís home in Keego Harbor.

The case received intensive media attention in part because the pair were alleged to have ingested Spice, a synthetic marijuana, which was later banned by the state.